Detroit Takes 1-0 Series Lead With Road Win

TAMIKA CATCHINGS
Catchings led all Indiana scorers with 17 points, including a pair of 3’s. She also had six rebounds and five assists in the game.

UNSUNG HERO

EBONY HOFFMAN
Hoffman finished with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, to go along with a career-high three blocked shots defensively.

QUOTABLE

BRIAN WINTERSIn general:
“Detroit was the better team tonight. They made more shots. Their guards hurt us. Katie Smith was key late. You can’t shoot 33% and win. The team that rebounds will probably win the game. We must focus on the next game.”

“We win that and the series is tied 1-1 and anything can happen. We must get more scoring out of our guards. We will look at the film for mismatches and go from there.”

TAMIKA CATCHINGSOn Game 2:
“We have to focus. We were ready to play tonight, but we didn’t come with a championship mentality. O. (Olympia Scott) talked to us in the locker room at the end of the game. She said we didn’t take care of every possession. We have to dig down deep, put everything else aside and we can win at the Palace.”

INDIANAPOLIS – The Detroit Shock used a 13-0 run in the second half to break open what had been a close game before coming away with a 68-56 win over the Indiana Fever in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals Thursday night in Conseco Fieldhouse.

Indiana will look to even the best-of-three series in Game 2 (6:00 p.m. ESPN2), set for Saturday in Detroit.

Tamika Catchings, who was honored as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year prior to the game, led Indiana with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists. Tamika Whitmore had 12 points, while Ebony Hoffman contributed 10 points, three rebounds and a career-high three blocked shots for the Fever (0-1).

Deanna Nolan scored a game-high 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting for Detroit (1-0). Katie Smith finished with 17 points, including four 3’s, to go along with seven rebounds and four assists.

The Fever scored seven unanswered points to cut what had been a double-digit Shock lead down to four points with 2:24 left in the fourth quarter. Catchings’ step-back jumper made the score 58-54, Detroit. Moments later, Smith netted a 3-pointer from the top of the key to extend Detroit’s lead to seven. The Shock led by as many as 12 down the stretch, which proved to be the final margin.

The officiating was tight early with ten fouls called in the game’s opening four minutes. After falling behind midway through the first quarter, Detroit pulled in front on the strength of a 7-0 run. Nolan’s jumper gave Detroit the lead, and pair of free throws from Smith then made the score 13-9

Detroit led by as many as seven in the second quarter. Indiana, though, kept pace with Detroit, tying the score at 28 following a 7-0 run. Whitmore’s 3-pointer from the left wing tied the score for the first time since it was 13-all. A Nolan steal and fast-break lay-up with 13.2 left in the second would give Detroit a 30-28 edge at the half.

The Fever enjoyed its first lead since early in the first quarter on a 3-point play from Whitmore. Indiana moved in front 36-34. The lead changed hands eleven times in the third quarter. However, Detroit led 47-44 after three.

Detroit scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to race out to its largest lead of the game. A Nolan jumper gave the Shock a 56-44 lead with 6:10 left in regulation.

Notes:

Tonight's win is the Shock's first playoff win since the first round of the 2004 postseason and is the team's first win overall at Conseco Fieldhouse since 6/9/04.

In her first playoff experience, the Fever's La'Tangela Atkinson registered the first double-figure rebounding game of her career with a game-high 11 tonight.

While scoring a team-high 17 points, Tamika Catchings led the team with five assists and led the Indiana starters with six rebounds.

To go with her first postseason double-figure scoring game (10 points), Ebony Hoffman was the only player on either team with more than one steal, collecting two of the team's four thefts. Hoffman also set the Fever playoff record with three blocked shots tonight.

With five players grabbing at least five rebounds each, the Shock outrebounded the Fever, 42-31, and the 42 rebounds is the most ever by a Fever opponent in a playoff game.

Tonight's game marks the seventh time in 35 games (reg. season & playoffs combined) that the Fever and its opponent have combined for few than 130 points and its first time in 16 games in which Indiana has held its opponent to less than 70 points and lost.

Indiana's 56 points is its lowest total of 2006 and its 32.8 percent shooting from the floor is its third lowest of the season. Two of Indiana's three lowest shooting percentages have come against Detroit.

Indiana was outscored by the Shock, 19-3, in second chance points and the Fever's three second chance points were one off its lowest total of the season, which it recorded in a win vs. Detroit, 6/29.

The Fever's 28 points in each half is one off the team's lowest ever in one half of a playoff game.